Pep Guardiola‘s dressing down of Jack Grealish on the pitch after Manchester City‘s draw with Arsenal was unnecessary and performative, Ian Ladyman believes.

An animated Guardiola made a beeline for substitute Grealish at full-time and was seemingly unimpressed with the forward’s mixed half-hour cameo at the Etihad.

Grealish was unable to conjure up the moment of magic City needed to break through Arsenal’s stubborn defence, with last season’s Treble winners sensationally prevented from scoring at home for the first time in 57 matches.

Guardiola and Grealish exchanged words during the heated chat and the City boss appeared frustrated with the winger’s involvement in a particular passage of play.

Their exchange was broadcast live on Sky Sports and Ladyman, speaking on the It’s All Kicking Off podcast, believes it should have taken place away from the cameras.

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Pep Guardiola’s dressing down of Jack Grealish was unnecessary, Ian Ladyman believes

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City boss Guardiola made a beeline for the forward after the goalless draw with Arsenal

Arguing that Grealish had in fact played well, Ladyman said: ‘Pep Guardiola clearly didn’t see it that way because as the teams left the field, Guardiola became involved in one of those incidents where he looks like he’s publicly lecturing his player.

‘He absolutely got into Jack Grealish in front of 40, 50,000 people plus people watching on television. I have to say, I don’t like it. It’s unnecessary. It’s performative.

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‘It’s for the cameras or it looks that way. You can wait bruntil you get to the dressing room. I’ve got a soft spot for Jack. I think he’s a genuine lad.

‘I think he cares deeply about his football. I think Jack Grealish in many ways is everything that we like about the modern Premier League.

‘He’s [got] a bit of glamour about him, but fundamentally is an honest, hardworking footballer.

‘He’s had a terrible season. He may not go to the European Championships this season because of his form and his injuries.

‘And there he is getting b*******d in public by his manager. Grealish looked broken as Guardiola was doing that.

‘I’m not here for it. I’m not here for that. And I’m sure Jack Grealish isn’t here for it either. I don’t know why Pep does that. I don’t know why he does it.’

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Ladyman, Mail Sport’s Football Editor, says Guardiola’s heated lecture was performative

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Guardiola had seemingly taken exception to Grealish’s involvement in one passage of play

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City’s draw meant that Liverpool took a two-point lead at the top ahead of the next fixtures

Chris Sutton, however, believes the situation has been blown out of proportion and that Guardiola had no intention of publicly embarrassing his player.

‘I didn’t see it as such a big deal because he has done it before,’ he said. ‘It’s the end of the game. There’s a real frustration that he may know that yesterday was the day that the title slipped out of City’s hands and he’s a coach.

‘I actually watched it back this morning. I’ve watched it a few times. I didn’t see it as a public berating. Maybe I’m going soft. I think it was maybe a misunderstanding that whatever Pep had told Jack Grealish to do, he hadn’t done it.

‘But it didn’t seem like he was absolutely admonishing him and slamming him. It didn’t feel like that. It was just a coaching point. We’ve seen Pep do that before.

‘I do take your point about the public image and the fact we’re talking about it now tells you that it is a debating point, but I didn’t see it like that.

‘I didn’t see it as a public dressing down and Guardiola trying to embarrass Grealish.’

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